Apparatus for opening and closing gates



UNITED sauras PATENT ornron E. WOOLMAN, OE DAMASCOVILLE, OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING GATES.

Speccationof Letters Patent No. 8,572, `dated. December 2, 1851.

To aZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, ENooH VOOLMAN, of the town of Dainascoville, in the county of Ooluinbiana'and State of Ohio, have in-v which I desire may form part of this speci cation and which represents a perspective view of my gate and the several parts of which more particular reference is made in the following specification.

My invention consists in'constructing the gate of entrance intogardens, fields, farm yards, &c., in such a manner that a person on horseback or sitting in a carriage can open the gate by pulling a rope which hangs in his road as he approaches it from either side.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to con struct and use gates on my plan I will pro* ceed to describe more fully the construction and operation.

The gate itself a is made of any desired shape or form, opening horizontally, with hinges at one end; Z; is the toe post of the gate, and o the heel post. The latch which fastens the gate when closed, is a bar or rail Z extending horizontally, across the gate at the usual height from the ground, and extending at both ends beyond the outside of the gate, through grooves in the heel post and toe post of the gate. This bar Z is hung on a pivot or pin c to the center post f of the gate (or if there is no center post to an upright stripconnecting'the rails above and below the bar d). The end of the bar cZ which passes through the toe post Z) of the gate, is heavier than the other end and therefore naturally inclines downward. The other end of the bar d which passes through the heel post a' of the gate, has a hole bored through it, near the end, and outside of the gate through which the rope g passes. This rope has a knot in it which, when the gate is shut rests on the top of the bar cZ. To the extremity of the rope g under the bar d, 1s fastened a weight ZL, which, when the knot rests on the bar, presses the heel-post-end of the bar down, and, of course, raises the other end; the weight z. being heavy enough to overcome the natural inclination of the toe-post-end of the bar to fall by its own Weight as before stated; z" and 7c are the pillars or posts at either end of the gate, and between which it is placed. The groove or catch in the post z' in which the latch of the gate enters to fasten it, is so made that the gate is fastened or latched by the rising of the latch instead of its depression as is usually the case.

The gate is hung by two or more hinges, theA hook being fastened to the pillars and the eye or flat part of the hinge which passes over and surrounds the hinge, being attached to the heel post c of the gate. All the hinges except the uppermost one are of the usual construction. rIfhe hinge at the top of the heel post of the gate, being that to which the power is applied to open the gate, requires a particular description. The eye piece of this hinge Z isa cast iron plate' with a square hole through which a tenon, formed by the top of the heel post of the gate, passes; the outside of this iron plate or eye piece Z is semicircular the center of the semicircle being the hole through which the hook of the hinge is placed. The outer edge of this semicircle is furnished with cogs which gear intolcorresponding cogs in the short arm of the lever o, which is made of the shape of nearly a semicircle. The cogs on the plate Z need not extend around more than a little over the half of the semicircular edge of the plate Z. The lever 0 is attached to the post as pillar 7c to which the gate is hung and is so placed as to gear into the cogs on the plate Z at the ,top of the heel post of the gate so that when the long arm of the lever is raised up, the cogs in the lever, working in the corresponding cogs in the cast iron plate Z turn it, and with it the gate to which it is fastened. It is necessary however before the gate can be opened, that it should be unlatched by letting the bar d drop. This is effected by attaching the rope g to the long arm of the lever 0 near to its turning point, so that when the lever is raised the rope g is drawn up slightly, yet sufciently to raise the knot which is held down by the weight it thus allowing the latch to fall. A weight p is suspended from the long arm of the lever 0 which is heavy enough to draw the lever down, after it has been raised, thereby shuti ting the gate. As soon as the gate has closed by the force of the weight attached to the lever 0, the knot on the rope g is lowered suiiciently to rest on the end of the bar CZ and the weight it then bearing on the bar CZ by means of the rope g, presses that end of the bar down, and raising the other, or latch-end, fastens the gate at the moment when it is closed. Two ropes g and r are fastened to the extremity of the long arm of the lever 0, Which passing over the pulleys s and t in a post a at a suitable height above the lever 0 are thence extended, one in front of the gate, and the other at a suitable distance behind it, over the hooks or pulleys 'v and w in the supporters and y respectively, so that the ends of the ropeshang down in the center of the road and can readily be pulled by persons passing on horseback or in carriages.

lVhen the gate is closed, the cogs on the iron plate Z at the top of the heel post c of the gate, are not in gear with the cogs on the lever 0 and they do not gear into each other until the lever is raised. The advantage of this is that When the gate is openedY 'it Would release the gate and allow it to close.

Having thus described by improved gate, What I claim therein as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- Making a blank space on the lever o and vibrating it so far as to disengage the cogs upon it, from the cogs upon the plate Z; so that the gate may be opened and closed by persons on foot Without the aid, and:

Without operating the lever 0 in combination with the connecting of the bar d, (or latch) to the lever 0 by the rope g so as to unlatch the gate When the lever o vibrates before the cogs on the lever o gear into the cogs upon' the plate Z to open the vgate sube stantially as described.

ENOCH WOOLMAN.

Witnesses:

JONAS CA'r'rELL, MORDECAI H. LoGUE. 

